Sycamore peterborough Ltd

We took our Mini Countryman to Sycamores service department, trusting that they were a reputable company, how wrong we were. The workmanship and customer service was diabolical! They have let us down miserably! Our car stopped working, which turned out to be a failed timing chain. We asked Sycamores to quote for this and for any other work that may need doing as a result of the timing chain failing. We were told it was going to cost £1500. We agreed for them to go ahead with the work. We then got informed that it was going to cost £5650, we were shocked by this. They said the £1500 was just to diagnose what the issue was, not to repair the car, and this would have to be paid even if we didn't have the car repaired by them (We have since found out that a diagnostic cost should only be between £90 - £170). We decided to proceed with the repair as they'd had the car stripped down for 2 months in total and had started work on it, so we thought best to see it through. On the day we were due to collect our car they said that the rocker cover was cracked and was going to cost a further £800. I questioned this, because the whole point of the £1500 diagnostic cost was surely to find out what needed doing, so we could make an informed decision on whether to get the work done or not. If we knew the cost kept rising we wouldn't have proceeded with the repair, as the cost was creeping up to the value of the car and it wasn't worth it. The customer advisor was extremely rude and unsympathetic and the manager was not much better. We said we would take it elsewhere to get the rocker cover done. We took it to another garage, they heard the car and said that it sounded like there was something very seriously wrong with the engine, and it wasn't a case of just a replacement rocker cover being needed. The car had a very loud rattling noise coming from deep within the engine. The other garage understandably didn't want to touch it, and advised us to take it back to Sycamores. We contacted them, but they said it was going to cost us more money just to have it checked, unless the noise was caused by a part that they had fitted. Quite frankly be were reluctant to return the car there, only to be taken to the cleaners again! I am disgusted by them, that I paid out £1500 for a diagnostic test and they obviously didn't diagnose the issue properly, how incompetent, and they want to charge me more. I then paid for the repair, and I still have a car that i cannot drive. They have completely ripped us off, and caused more damage to our car. We cannot afford to get our car working again and are considering selling it as it is. This garage is money grapping, incompetent, have no customer service skills and void of conscience.

My Mini was due its first service which is covered under the TLC pack so no cost to me. I called and I called and after about 9 attempts, 2 emails and 2 answerphone messages they called back. I had to wait over 4 weeks for the appointment as I needed a courtesy car. The car was allocated to a service manager who didn't start at 8 am, so I had to wait until 8.15 for them to open their desk even though there were 3 others sat there with no customers. Not a great start. Service carried out with a video sent to me telling me I needed two rear tyres. After 4 hours, the car was ready, I collected it and asked a different service manager about the tyres and he said oh there perfectly legal. No monies exchanged and I left quickly. Dont have a choice but to use them but the servicing part of the garage will certainly influence my decision to purchase another BMW/Mini.

My BMW Z3 was damaged in a city car park and needed a major bodywork repair. Sycamore did an excellent job, were very efficient, friendly and went above and beyond my expectations. Also due to a personal problem I was unable to collect my car when it was ready and Sycamore stored my car in a dry and safe place at no extra charge for several weeks. I would recommend all BMW owners to use this workshop.